Queiroz off Bellator 96, Ryan Martinez meets Rich Hale in heavyweight tourney

On the day of the weigh-ins for Bellator 96, there has been a shakeup in the “Summer Series” heavyweight tournament.

Vinicius Queiroz (6-3 MMA, 1-1 BFC) is out of a semifinal bout against Rich Hale (21-5 MMA, 6-2 BFC) in the four-man tourney, and stepping in to take his place will be Ryan Martinez (9-2 MMA, 2-1 BFC).

Bellator announced the switch on Tuesday afternoon, saying Queiroz had suffered a knee injury.

Bellator 96 takes place Wednesday at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. The three-hour main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com. Weigh-ins for the event take place today in Oklahoma, which theoretically shouldn’t be much issue for Martinez since he fights at heavyweight.

“I’m looking at this opportunity as a blessing,” Martinez stated. “Rich is a very qualified and tough guy, but I’m ready. I’ve been training with (Muhammad) ‘King Mo’ (Lawal) and Roy Nelson over the last few months, so I basically went through a normal training camp and haven’t stopped training. This is a huge chance for me, and I’m ready.”

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said Martinez was well on the promotion’s radar, but now gets a shot quicker than anticipated.

“Ryan’s a huge potential player in our heavyweight division,” Rebney stated “We had him slotted for our next heavyweight tournament, but paid him to be here and make weight as if he was going to fight, just for this reason. And his back-to-back camps with ‘Mo’ and Roy have him ready for tomorrow night’s fight.”

Martinez has won back-to-back fights for Bellator since dropping his debut with the promotion, a split-decision loss to Mike Wessel at Bellator 73 in the 2012 “Summer Series.” But he rebounded with a majority decision win at Bellator 75 this past fall, then knocked out Travis Wiuff in just 18 seconds in March at Bellator 93.

Hale had a four-fight win streak snapped at Bellator 84 in December when he lost the heavyweight tournament final against Alexander Volkov, who became the promotion’s new champion. Hale had ripped through Wessel and Thiago Santos with first-round TKOs in the tournament, giving him four straight quick first-round knockouts under the Bellator banner since a loss to Christian M’Pumbu.

Queiroz, who fought once for the UFC before signing with Bellator, was looking to get back in the win column after a November TKO loss to Alexander Volkov in the Season 7 heavyweight tournament semifinals. He had won his opening-round fight in the tournament with a submission of Mark Holata.

The “Summer Series” tournaments for Bellator feature four competitors instead of the standard eight. The Hale-Martinez fight will put one of them into the finals later this summer against the winner between Vitaly Minakov (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Ron Sparks (8-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC).

The latest Bellator 96 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 7 p.m. ET)

• Muhammed Lawal vs. Seth Petruzelli – light-heavyweight tournament opening round
• Jacob Noe vs. Renato Sobral – light-heavyweight tournament opening round
• Rich Hale vs. Ryan Martinez – heavyweight-tournament opening round
• Vitaly Minakov vs. Ron Sparks – heavyweight-tournament opening round
• Blas Avena vs. War Machine

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 6 p.m. ET)

• Steven Artoff vs. Justin McNally
• Derek Campos vs. Brandon Girtz
• Mikey Brown vs. Brandon Halsey
• Raphael Butler vs. Jeremiah O’Neal
• Damon Jackson vs. Keith Miner
• Mike Maldonado vs. Chavous Smith
• Keith Berry vs. Cortez Coleman
• Jarrod Card vs. Chas Skelly

For the latest on Bellator 96, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Ryan Martinez)